Improvement in flour-bolts



UNITED STATEsf PATENT OFFICE.

ALONZO T. BOON, OF GALESBURG, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND CHARLESL. STEVENS, OF SAME PLACE.

Letters Patent No. 45,311, dated December 6, 186i.

IMPROVEMENT IN FLOUR-BOLTS.

The Schedule referred to iu these Letters Patent and making part of thesame.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it remembered that I, ALoNzo T. BooN, of the city of Galesburg', inthe county of Knox and State of Illinois, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Flour-Cooler and Bolt- Oleaner; and I do hereby declarethe following to be a full and exact description of the construction andoperation of the saine, reference being had to the annexed drawinforming a part of this specication.

The nature of my invention consists of an apparatus for cooling theflour at the same time that it keeps the meshes of the boltingclothopen, thereby becoming not only a substitute for what are known inmilling as the hopper-boy77 and cooling-chest, but acting an importantpart in freeing the bolting-cloth from the obstruction to which it isnecessarily liable from the accunuilation of the flonrin the meshes ofthejcloth.

In the drawing hereto attached, Figure l is a vertical view of a boltand my apparatus as seen together in the bolting-chest; Fig. 2, atransverse section thereof through a plane indicated by the line x :e ofFig. l. Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 are fractional or sectional views of theair pipes or tubes which are used in my invention, which figures will bemore fully explained hereafter.

Many devices have been presented for cooling our after passing from thegrinding apparatus, among which those in most common 4use are thehopper-boy and cooling-chest. Some of these are slow in their operation,complicated in their arrangements, and all of them, so far as I know,are intended to produce the effect contemplated before the flour reachesthe bolting-cloth. My device simplifies this operation by requiring theilour to pass as soon asmay be from the stones or grinding-surfaces tothe bolting apparatus, when a current of air of any requiredtemperature, and relieved, if need be, of all or a greater part of Vitshydroscopic moisture, is made to mingle directly with the Hour, and thusnot only cool it effectually, but remove from it the moisture from thegrain, which goes over with it from the stones or grinding surfaces.Moreover, by passing through the meshes of the boltingeloth with someforce, it keeps these cleared 0f the flour liable to accumulate in them,and

thus enables the cloth to perform its functions more rapidly and moreeflectually than is now done.

In Figs. l and 2, d is the chest. b is the bolt, and e the air-pipe.When the whole is in operation, the flour passes into the bolt b, and acurrent of air is forced into the air-pipe c. This latter, beingfurnished with suitable apertures on its side, discharges its containedair through these apertures, and thence through the meshes of the clothinto the bolt, where it mingles with the iour, and, abstraeting from itits excess of heat and moisture, reduces it to, or near to, its owntemperature, and then escapes through the sides or meshes of the cloth.It is obvious that in doing this the air must pass twice through thecloth-first, by the force given it .from the air-pipe," a-nd, second, asit escapes therefrom. In each of these transits through the cloth, itmust necessarily act so as to cleanse the meshes of the cloth, and, bykeeping them free from the tine material that has a tendency toaccumulate upon the threads, greatly increase the quantity of iiour itcan bolt in a given time. The orifices of the airpipe open upon and nearto the outer surface of the bolting-cloth, as seen in Figs. l and 2, andas the bolt revolves on its axis the cloth receives successively theeffect of the blast upon its entire surface, both in its ingress andegress. The air may be propelled into the tube e by a fan-blower, or anyform of blower having an exit or exhaust pipe connecting it with or tothe said tube. In cool or cold weather, the air at its ordinarytemperature may be used 5 but in warm weather, it will be advantageousto take the air from some cool place, and, indeed, it may be advisableto cause it to pass through a refri geratin g apparatus of some kind bymeans of a fan-blower or some similar apparatus. Summer air, it is wellknown, is always charged with a large amount of aqueous vapor. `Bycooling it in the manner proposed before propelling into the bolt, somuch of this vapor may be condensed that air thus treated will be asefficient in cooling and drying the flour as the air of a cold winterday. The miller has thus the means at all times of regulating the dryingof his ilour to suit the character of his wheat and the climate ortemperature to which it may have to be exposed, without regard to theseason of grinding yor milling.

I have devised several plans of using this artificial blast as a coolerof the flour, as well as a cleanser of the bolt-cloth. In all of them,however, I contemplate using the air in small jets, because in this formit impinges more sharply (if I may use the term) upon the bolting-cloth,cleaning the meshes more successfully than can be done by a broad oropen blast. One of these plans is seen at c in Fig. 1, and an enlargedview of the saine in the fragment represented in Fig. 3. In this planthe tube is slightly conical, its larger end being toward and properlyconnected with the blowing apparatus, and having its smaller end closedby a stop-cock or valve, e. The orifices for the discharge of the airupon the bolt-cloth in this plan are made, as seen at d, Fig. 3, byinterposing two corrugated plates between three plain ones, and applyingthese over a slot or series of openin gs in the side of the' pipe e. Bythis plan the orifices between the at and oval plates form jets arrangedin zigzag` orquincunx, nearly.

By means of the stop-cock or valve, any reasonable excess or pressure ofair in the tube may be regulated without interfering with the action ofthe blowing apparatus.

In a plain cylindrical tube with orifices of this or almost any otherform, there would not be a uniform strength of blast through theseoriiices from one end of the tube to the other.

' It is to obviate this-that is, to secure a uni,-

form strength in all the jets-that I make the tube slightly conical.

Fig. 4 is a cross-section of Fig. 3, along a plane represented by theline y g/ of the latterl gure. From this section, Fig. 4, it will beseen that the tube c is entirely hollow, and that the air has freeaccess to all its sides from end to end. If the tube were cylindrical,so much of the pressure of the air would be taken off by the escape fromthe orifices or jets nearest the blower that the strength of the blast`of those more remote would be greatly diminished.

In Fig. 5 is exhibited another inode of accomplishing this equalizing ofthe strength of the jets throughout the whole length of the tube, bywhich the tube may be made cylindrical throughout its whole lengt-h. Inthis plan the cylinder is divided by a series of diaphragms extendingentirely across the tube, in such relation to each other that across-section of the tube will show that these diaphragms divide it upinto orices of equal area. These diaphragms are designated by l Z l l,and it will be seen that they lead to chambers Z Z',

Ste., inclosing an equal number of jets iny the side of the tube. Bythis arrangement, although there may be a slight dierence in thestrength of the blast from the orifices of each chamber as a whole, theywill be as nearly as possible equal through the whole tube.

In Fig. 6, two rows of orifices in the pipes are shown arranged inzigzag. These orifices vmay be either round, as shown in this figure,

or they may be short slots.

Fig. 7 is a section showing the mode of applying tubes to theseorifices, if desired; but a more simple plan would be to punch theseorifices from within outward, by which the burr projecting from thesurface will itself produce the pipes with sufficient accuracy. Thismode of making them, however, can only be used when the tube itself ismade of some thin metal.

When wood is used, it may be better to inirodice pipes in the orifices,as shown in n manufacturing these tubes, I do not c011- ine myself toany particular material, nor to any particular size or form of thecross-section. Tin, sheet-iron, vor copper will generally be found themost convenient; but wood, vulcanized rubber, and the like may be used.The length, of course, will be determined by that of the blt--thediameter about ten inches, more or less, as may be required.

In the drawings, the tube is represented round 5 but it may be madesquare, triangular, octagonal, or of any other form to suit the taste,or fancy, or convenience. n

Having thus fully set forth the nature of my invention, what I claimtherein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, isthe following:

1. The use of a blast of air of the ordinary temperature of theatmosphere or below it, applied to the exterior of a bolting-cloth orsimilar apparatus, for cooling land drying the flour or other powderedmaterial therein, and for clearing or cleaning the meshes of thebolting-cloth.

2. The conical pipe with its lines of orifices and stop-cock l, as shownin Figs. 1, 3, and 4, or the cylindrical pipe with its orifices ordiaphragms, as shown in Figs. 5, 6, and 7, for applying a blast of airin jets to the outer surface of a bolting-cloth, for cooling and dryingthe flour or other powder therein, and for clearing and cleaning themeshes of the boltingcloth, substantially as described.

ALONZO '.I. BOON.

Witnesses: WALTER HOOK, .Asiei A. MATTEsoN.

